BREAKING: Say goodbye to four hurricane names from 2017 season

Four hurricane names have been retired from the devastating 2017 hurricane season, the most since 2005 when five names were banished from the list.

The World Meteorological Organization takes names off the 6-year rotating list when they have done extensive damage, and would be insensitive to use again. The organization is meeting in Martinique this week.

The 2017 names that will be forever banned from the list include Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate.

Including these four additions, there have been 86 names retired from the Atlantic basin list since 1954, when storms began to be named.

Replacing those names will be Harold, Idalia, Margot and Nigel. They will appear for the first time in the 2023 list of storm names.

Hurricane Irma was slowed down to a low-end Category 4 hurricane by its rub against Cuba before a Sept. 10 landfall.

Tropical cyclones get monikers based on their basin and names that are familiar in the region. There is a six-year rotating list, with 2018’s names a repeat of 2012.

Hurricane names are selected by the World Meteorological Organization and are usually common names associated with the ethnicity of the basin that would be affected by the storms.

“For example, in the Atlantic basin, the majority of storms have English names, but there are also a number of Hispanic-origin names as well as a few French names,” said National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen during an interview about 2015’s Hurricane Henri. “For the eastern North Pacific basin, the majority of names are of Hispanic origin, as the impacted countries are Mexico, Guatemala, and other nations of Central America.”

There are six lists in rotation, which are maintained and updated by the WMO.

There will never be another Hurricane Andrew, after the devastating 1992 Category 5 storm.

Florida City: Gary Davis cradles his chihuahua Boo Boo in front of his mobile home in the Goldcoaster Mobile Home Park the morning after Hurricane Andrew hit overnight in 1992. After his home disintegrated around him, Davis spent the rest of the night in his truck . (Photo by Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post)

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About the Author

Kim Miller is the weather reporter for The Palm Beach Post.

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